Post by Laoupdate on May 18, 2005 21:07:27 GMT -5
Lao Rugby hots up for the Indochina Cup
THIS Saturday, 21 May, marks the Indochina Cup; a fiercely battled rugby tournament played each year between expatriate teams from Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.
The tournament will involve 100 players competing in the one-day event. The day will feature men's 10-a-side full-contact and women's touch rugby matches.
Rugby has had a long but interrupted history in Laos. The game was first introduced to the country in the 1960s by French soldiers who played in their compound. As the foreign diplomatic and NGO presence grew other foreigners began joining the games and the due to the influx some full 15-a-siade matches were organised.
By the early seventies Lao players had begun joining the expatriates, but there was little structure to the competition. Once Lao students who had studied in Europe and Australia began returning home they brought their newfound passion for rugby with them. They organised the Vientiane Rugby Club and set about attracting young players.
The club, then composed of locals and expatriates, began to play against sides from Thailand and Hong Kong and Sri Lanka.
The steady rise in the game's popularity declined during the late seventies but was revived in 1997, and is now becoming popular once more among both locals and expatriates.
This year's Indochina Cup will be the seventh time the annual event has been held.
The men's competition will involve the home side, the Vientiane Buffalo's, playing against the Hanoi Dragons and Saigon Geckos from Vietnam, and defending champions, Les Pillers de Angkor from Cambodia.
The Buffalo's believe they have a good chance of winning the competition this year and of putting on a good show for the local crowd.
Buffalo's President, Steve Major, said they are eager to improve, "Each year the host club tries to improve on the previous event and Phnom Phen put on a pretty good day last year so we have our work cut out for us. There are many people helping out to make this event is spectacular and lives up to not only ours but the spectators expectations."
The Vientiane Buffalo's won the Cup the last time it was held in Loas in 2000, and club captain Lee Sheridan is confident that this year's squad can make the grade.
"We have been training hard since January for this event and are coming into form at just the right time," he said after training last Saturday.
Scrum-half, Ian Mackenzie, is also confident the team can win.
"If we can keep our discipline and play to our game plan we will be able to win all our games," he said.
Held alongside the men's full contact competition is a women's touch competition, contested by the Vientiane Lao Khaos, the Hanoi Lady Dragons, the Saigon Boas and the Phnom Penh Asparas.
Both of the local teams have been training hard in the lead up to the cup, and both stand a good chance of winning this year.
The first match kicks off at the National Stadium at 10.45am and the finals will finish by 6pm. Admission is free and there will be food and drinks available on site.
Source: KPL
Photo: www.laorugby.com/images/Indochine_2005_s.gif
Laoupdate.com ;D
THIS Saturday, 21 May, marks the Indochina Cup; a fiercely battled rugby tournament played each year between expatriate teams from Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.
The tournament will involve 100 players competing in the one-day event. The day will feature men's 10-a-side full-contact and women's touch rugby matches.
Rugby has had a long but interrupted history in Laos. The game was first introduced to the country in the 1960s by French soldiers who played in their compound. As the foreign diplomatic and NGO presence grew other foreigners began joining the games and the due to the influx some full 15-a-siade matches were organised.
By the early seventies Lao players had begun joining the expatriates, but there was little structure to the competition. Once Lao students who had studied in Europe and Australia began returning home they brought their newfound passion for rugby with them. They organised the Vientiane Rugby Club and set about attracting young players.
The club, then composed of locals and expatriates, began to play against sides from Thailand and Hong Kong and Sri Lanka.
The steady rise in the game's popularity declined during the late seventies but was revived in 1997, and is now becoming popular once more among both locals and expatriates.
This year's Indochina Cup will be the seventh time the annual event has been held.
The men's competition will involve the home side, the Vientiane Buffalo's, playing against the Hanoi Dragons and Saigon Geckos from Vietnam, and defending champions, Les Pillers de Angkor from Cambodia.
The Buffalo's believe they have a good chance of winning the competition this year and of putting on a good show for the local crowd.
Buffalo's President, Steve Major, said they are eager to improve, "Each year the host club tries to improve on the previous event and Phnom Phen put on a pretty good day last year so we have our work cut out for us. There are many people helping out to make this event is spectacular and lives up to not only ours but the spectators expectations."
The Vientiane Buffalo's won the Cup the last time it was held in Loas in 2000, and club captain Lee Sheridan is confident that this year's squad can make the grade.
"We have been training hard since January for this event and are coming into form at just the right time," he said after training last Saturday.
Scrum-half, Ian Mackenzie, is also confident the team can win.
"If we can keep our discipline and play to our game plan we will be able to win all our games," he said.
Held alongside the men's full contact competition is a women's touch competition, contested by the Vientiane Lao Khaos, the Hanoi Lady Dragons, the Saigon Boas and the Phnom Penh Asparas.
Both of the local teams have been training hard in the lead up to the cup, and both stand a good chance of winning this year.
The first match kicks off at the National Stadium at 10.45am and the finals will finish by 6pm. Admission is free and there will be food and drinks available on site.
Source: KPL
Photo: www.laorugby.com/images/Indochine_2005_s.gif
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